The present invention relates generally to electrical connectors and in particular to high transmission speed communication connectors.
It is well known to transmit data over twisted-pair cabling for communication signal transmissions. A particular application where this cabling finds wide-spread use is in building wiring. In order to provide the flexibility necessary to utilize various pieces of equipment, which may have different interface requirements, it is desirable to have a flexible interconnect to the building wiring, as opposed to attempting to hard wire the equipment into the building wiring or to provide dedicated plugs for one particular interface requirements.
One particularly advantageous flexible interconnect system is set out in EP 274 487. In this system, the building wiring is terminated in an edge-card connector. The edge-card connector is then mounted in a wall box. An interface insert that includes a common printed circuit board (PCB) with a standardized edge-card interface corresponding to the edge-card connector is provided. This insert further includes a communications connector mounted thereupon that is set in a mounting bezel so that as the insert is plugged into the edge-card, the bezel is received in the box. Depending upon the interface required, an insert with a different connector is incorporated onto the PCB and by exchanging the inserts, access to the building wiring is provided for various equipment interfaces. This provides the flexibility necessary to accommodate the many different types of equipment that are used within buildings today.
Since this particularly flexible interconnection system has been introduced, the signal transmission speeds of copper-based communication systems have risen dramatically. As the signal transmission speeds have increased, so has the susceptibility of the signals being carried by the system to degradation from such things as the electromagnetic interference from other electrical devices or cabling within the building and even adjacent signal line cross-talk.
In order to accommodate the new signal transmission speeds, improved twisted-pair cabling has been developed. This cabling is known as foil shielded twisted-pair, screened foil shielded twisted-pair and pair in metal foil twisted-pair. These various shielding or screening techniques are used in order to try to prevent any outside influences from effecting the signal being transmitted along the cable and/or a particular twisted-pair. It is not uncommon, over the life of the building, for the internal wiring to be upgraded.
In addition, improvements have been made to other parts of the system. For example, in EP 525 703 proposals to improve on an insert are set out. In addition, there has been much study relating to improving basic data connectors, such as the common modular jack receptacle. An example of this improvement is set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,647. Finally, it has been known to utilize metallized plastic boxes from U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,308 or metal boxes for housing the cable termination and the edge-card connector. It is further known to electrically close the box by metallizing at least one side of the plastic adapter that fits around the connector mounted upon the PCB so that the interface with the building wiring is generally protected from the outside.
However, signal speeds have continued to increase and further improvement on the existing system has brought the requirement to provide an improved edge-card connector. This improved edge-card connector should retain the desirable flexibility of the existing system and work with the already improved components thereof. Additionally, it is desirable that the improved edge-card connector would have backward compatibility so that it could be installed within existing systems. These goals have been met by the present invention, which while particularly attractive in an edge-card form, may be useful with other interfaces and outside of building wiring systems.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned objects by providing a high frequency connector with: a main housing having an open mounting side, a cable side and a partition at the cable side defining two compartments where each compartment is in communication with the mounting side and the cable side; a plurality of contacts, where a pair of contacts are positioned in the compartments such that the contacts are exposed for mating with a complementary electrical interface on the mating side and wires of a cable on the cable side; and a rear cover that is fittable to the main housing on the cable side in order to close the open cable side and cover the exposed contacts where the cover further includes a second partition configured to mechanically and electrically engage the partition of the main housing where the two partitions are conductive and act as a shield between the two compartments.
It is advantageous that this connector can be configured as an edge-card connector.
It is further advantageous that the main housing and the cover can be conductive or metallized plastic to provide complete shielding of the interconnections within the connector and in particular individually shield the compartments.
It is yet further advantageous that the compartments can be provided with a wire exit having a metallized saddle where any foil or screening about a twisted wire pair would sit such that shielding continuity would exist between the cable and the screening at a given compartment.
It is still further advantageous that the partitions are formed with tongues having chamfered surfaces thereupon that abut with one another along the chamfers to assure shielding continuity between the compartments.